Paul Winfield

Dennis Mitchell (Mason Gamble) is a five-year-old boy who lives with his parents Henry (Robert Stanton) and Alice (Lea Thompson) and is the bane of next door neighbor George Wilson's (Walter Matthau) existence. One day, George pretends to be asleep to avoid Dennis, who mistakes this for illness and shoots an aspirin into his mouth with a slingshot. Dennis's parents Henry and Alice learn of the incident, and are both dismayed about it, but they can't immediately deal with it, as they both have to work, so they leave Dennis with his best friend Joey McDonald at the home of their impetuous classmate Margaret Wade, much to Dennis's dismay. Despite Dennis and Joey's dislike of Margaret, the three work together to fix up an abandoned tree-house in the woods. Because of his trouble-making but unintentional behavior, his parents often struggle to find suitable babysitters to deal with him. While vacuuming spilled paint in the garage, Dennis inadvertently shoots a glob of it onto George's barbecue grill. Tasting the paint, George suspects Dennis for the mischief. On one night, they manage to get one named Polly (Natasha Lyonne) and her boyfriend Mickey (Devin Ratray) to babysit him, but repeated doorbell pranks from Dennis push the two too far (not knowing he is behind this). Mickey tapes a thumbtack to the doorbell. George investigates the vacuum in the Mitchells' garage and accidentally shoots himself in the buttocks with a golf ball. Hoping to confront the Mitchells, George rings the doorbell, but pricks his thumb on the tack, and Polly and Mickey, mistaking him for the prankster, douse George with water and flour, much to the amusement of George's wife, Martha. While all of this and the rest of the events in town go on, a burglar named Switchblade Sam (Christopher Lloyd) arrives in town and begins robbing houses, as well as striking fear into the children that he meets. Dennis plays with George's dentures, loses the two front incisors, and replaces them with Chiclets before George has his picture taken for the local newspaper. Dennis' parents are both called away on business trips at the same time, and when everyone they know refuses to look after him, they turn to George and his wife Martha (Joan Plowright) to look after him. Martha loves Dennis and sees him as a surrogate grandson. George is further irritated by him spilling bath water on the bathroom floor, swapping chemicals, and bringing his pet dog, Ruff, into the house for a while. George, however, is infuriated that Dennis has replaced his nasal spray with mouthwash and the latter with toilet cleaner. In the attic, Dennis's carelessness causes George to slip on mothballs. All of this is happening around the time the Summer Floraganza, a long-awaited event, is scheduled to happen. As a longtime member of the local garden club, George is chosen to host it. He is excited to have this honor, as he has been growing and nurturing a rare plant for forty years. After growing for the said length of time, its flower finally blooms, only to die several seconds later. Alice gets stuck at the airport due to a storm, thus forcing Dennis to stay with the Wilsons for an extra night, which coincides with the unveiling of the plant and its blooming to the members of the garden club. While that is happening, he is sent away for causing trouble, namely overturning the dessert table when he pushed a black button, which he found out opened the garage door. When he hears Switchblade Sam robbing the house. He goes downstairs and finds George's gold coins missing. He runs outside to tell him just as the flower is beginning to bloom, which causes him and all the guests to miss its entire lifespan of the blooming flower. Not knowing about the robbery, George severely scolds Dennis, tells him that he has no use for him, and that he doesn't want to know or see him anymore. Shortly thereafter, Dennis gets on his bicycle (with a wagon attached) and rides off into the night, eventually bumping into Switchblade Sam in the woods. Sam then abducts him, intending to use the child as a hostage. Dennis' parents return home and learn of his departure, and they, the authorities, his friends Joey (Kellen Hathaway), Margaret (Amy Sakasitz) and all the neighborhood kids, and George search all night for him. George feels intense guilt and remorse after remembering all the things he said to him and having now discovered his house was burglarized and that Dennis actually had good intentions when he tried to tell him. Switchblade Sam prepares to leave town with Dennis as an unsuspecting hostage but grows annoyed with Dennis's constant talking. Showing Sam the proper way to tie him up, Dennis handcuffs Sam, loses the key, unintentionally bludgeons him multiple times, and sets him on fire. As Dennis discovers George's stolen coins and realizes that Switchblade Sam is a thief, Sam attempts to stab Dennis but is snared in a rope that is caught by a passing train and stabbed in the buttocks by his own knife, subduing him too much to do anything further. Dennis returns to George's house the next morning with Switchblade Sam in his wagon, having also recovered George's gold coins, and Sam is taken into police custody by a slightly amused sheriff Bennett (Paul Winfield) who had previously advised him to leave town. Switchblade Sam is arrested, and Dennis naively returns his knife. Sam attempts to stab Dennis again, but Chief Bennett accidentally closes the police car door on his hand, causing him to drop his knife into the storm drain and wince in pain before being driven away, with all the neighborhood children taunting him. Dennis and George make up, and the Mitchells and Wilsons become friends on better terms. Alice mentions that she will not be traveling for work anymore and can bring Dennis to work with her because her office now has a day-care center. That night, George explains that he's learned some things about kids: kids are kids, and that one has to play by their rules, roll with the punches, and expect the unexpected, in which afterward Dennis, trying to get a flame on a marshmallow to go out, then accidentally hits him in the forehead with it. The film's end credits are accompanied with Dennis inadvertently humiliating his mother's egotistical coworker, Andrea (Melinda Mullins), while she is using a photocopier. Dennis impishly whacks the "PRINT" button and runs away, with other workers looking on. Andrea loses her balance, and her head gets pinned face-down on the scanner-bed, and the machine relentlessly flashes its blinding light in her eyes as it repeatedly "takes her picture" and spews out page after page of black-and-white "photos" showing her various agonized facial expressions as she squirms about on the scanner bed.

Rusty Sabich, a prosecutor, is seduced into an extramarital affair by a colleague. When she is found dead all the evidence points to Sabich, who must now fight for his very life.

An anthropologist goes to Haiti to research a drug that makes someone appear dead by suspending all vital signs. In 1985, after a successful research in Amazonas, Dr. Dennis Alan from Harvard is invited by the president of a Boston pharmaceutics industry, Andrew Cassedy, to travel to Haiti to investigate the case of a man named Christophe that died in 1978 and has apparently returned to life. Andrew wants samples of the voodoo drug that was used in Christophe to be tested with the intention of producing a powerful anesthetic. Dr. Alan travels to meet Dr. Marielle Duchamp that is treating Christophe and arrives in Haiti in a period of revolution. Soon Alan is threatened by the chief of the feared Tonton Macuse Dargent Peytraud, who is a torturer and powerful witch. Alan learns that death is not the end in the beginning of his journey to hell. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Dennis Allan is a scientist who visits Haiti on the strength of a rumour of a drug which renders the recipient totally paralyzed but conscious. The drug's effects often fool doctors, who declare the victims dead. Could this be the origin of the "zombie" legend? Alan embarks on a surprising and often surreal investigation of the turbulent social chaos that is Haiti during the revolution which ousted hated dictator "Baby Doc" Duvalier. Often a pawn in a greater game, Alan must decide what is science, what is superstition, and what is the unknown in a anarchistic society where police corruption and witch-doctory are commonplace. —Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>

A drifter returns to his Florida hometown only to discover that his father, the local mayor, was mysteriously murdered during his absence. Vowing to find the killer and avenge his father's death, he starts his own investigation. Returning to the small Florida town where he grew up, Billy Turner (Nelson) learns that his father has been killed. With little help from the police, Billy will take matters into his own hands and go up against a ruthless local mob boss in a desperate search to find the killer. —leopardo_delle_nevi

The Terminator is a story about a human-looking robot who is sent from the future to murder a waitress, whose unborn son would, in the future, lead humanity in a war against the machines. Another robot is sent there to protect the waitress and save humanity.

Admiral James T. Kirk seems resigned to what may well be the last space mission of his career, when the evil Khan returns with new schemes to set a deadly trap for his old enemy.

LA Police Lt. Phil Gaines (Burt Reynolds) and Nicole Britton (Catherine Deneuve), a high-priced call girl and the lieutenant's girlfriend, have their weekend plans dashed when Gaines receives a call that a dead woman was found on the beach. Before he leaves, the two plan a romantic trip to Rome, Italy. At the police precinct, Gaines and his partner, Sgt. Louis Belgrave (Paul Winfield), meet Marty and Paula Hollinger (Ben Johnson and Eileen Brennan), and ask Marty to view the deceased to see if it is his daughter, Gloria. Upon seeing Gloria's naked lifeless body, Marty punches Gaines in the face, screaming they should have covered her up. Sgt. Belgrave insists they charge Marty with assault, but Gaines apologizes for not covering the girl. Later, Gaines enters an interrogation room to find Belgrave and another police officer beating a confession out of an Albino man (David Estridge). Infuriated by their brutality, Gaines orders the prisoner released and given something to eat. Gaines then learns that Jerry Bellamy (David Spielberg), a murderer he arrested, was paroled after only serving five years of his two life sentences. Gaines goes to his office and stares wistfully at a seven-year old calendar showing the Roman coliseum. That night, Marty Hollinger lies in bed picturing his daughter, Gloria, as she grew from a toddler to teenager. His wife reminds him they "lost" Gloria a long time ago. Meanwhile, Gaines stands on his balcony overlooking Los Angeles, California, while Nicole has phone sex with a client. When Nicole hangs up, she complains her job is getting harder every day. Gaines suggests she quit, but is silent when she asks if he will take care of her. To lighten the mood, Nicole encourages him to reminisce about the love affair he had when he visited Rome. The next day, Belgrave and Gaines brief their boss, Capt. John Santoro (Ernest Borgnine), on the Gloria Hollinger case. Although the girl tested positive for semen, there was no sign of rape. Plus, blood tests indicate that Gloria died of suicide. After learning the girl's father is "a nobody," Santoro tells them to close the file. Meanwhile, Nicole entertains mob attorney, "Kingfish" Leo Sellers (Eddie Albert), on his yacht. Sellers goes ashore to make a telephone call. In Akron, Ohio, his call is answered by a man at a telephone booth. Three men leave a union meeting hall, and are killed when the car explodes. Afterward, the man tells Sellers "it is done", and hangs up. Back in Los Angeles, Gaines removes a picture of Sellers and Gloria Hollinger from the dead girl's wallet. Sgt. Belgrave snatches it from him and gives it to another officer to enlarge it and make additional prints. The Hollingers arrive to collect their daughter's personal effects, and Marty refuses to accept his daughter's death was a suicide. When Gaines tells him the case is closed, Marty threatens to find the killer and take care of him. After Marty leaves, Paula explains he has never been the same after his traumatic experiences in the Korean War and a sympathetic Gaines gives her his business card in case she needs his help. Gaines learns that Jerry Bellamy has killed two women and taken a third hostage while holed up in a downtown factory. When Gaines arrives at the scene, Bellamy threatens to shoot his prisoner unless the police lieutenant comes in alone. Inside, Bellamy orders Gaines to kneel, then, as the killer rants about the evils of women, Belgrave drops from a skylight, distracting the killer. Gaines pulls his gun and kills Bellamy. Later, Gaines and Belgrave are drinking in Gaines's office, when Belgrave insists they investigate Leo Sellers's connection to Gloria's death. He argues that Seller is a mob lawyer, and Gloria was carrying an envelope holding $2,000 in cash and had Sellers's picture in her wallet. Knowing Seller is one of Nicole's clients, a reluctant Gaines agrees. Meanwhile, Marty collects Gloria's things from Gloria's roommate, Peggy Summers (Catherine Bach), who shows him a much larger photograph of Gloria and Sellers. Learning Gloria was a stripper who dated Herbie Dalitz, the emcee at her club, Marty goes to confront Herbie. That night, Gaines confesses he is having trouble accepting Nicole's profession. When he refuses to marry her, she packs to leave him. Gaines slaps her and she hits him in the head with an ashtray. He throws her on the bed, and what starts as a violent kiss turns passionate and they make love. The next morning, a narcotics officer gives Gaines a tape recording of Sellers calling Ohio and the bomb blast that killed the union men. He explains that the telephone booth was "bugged" to catch drug deals, but the tape now belongs to homicide. Later, Gaines and Belgrave respond to a telephone call from Paula Hollinger and go to her home where they find a badly beaten Marty. Marty says Gloria was at a sex party at a home owned by a man named Leo. Gaines agrees to investigate Gloria's death, but only if Marty promises not to take any more chances. Gaines interviews Herbie Dalitz, who admits procuring Gloria for Leo after he saw her in a pornographic movie. When questioned, Leo Sellers admits partying with Gloria, but insists she left his house alive. When Gaines asks if Leo feels any responsibility for the girl's suicide, Leo answers she was screwed up before he met her. Gaines then reveals that police taped his call to Ohio. Leo's only response is to say that he knows Nicole and Gaines are living together and admires that Gaines does not let her profession get in the way of their relationship. Later, Gaines has drinks with Paula Hollinger and learns that Gloria was the result of an affair she had while Marty was in a veteran's hospital being treated for mental illness. Although Marty learned of the affair, he never suspected he was not Gloria's father. The next day, Gaines tells Marty that Gloria committed suicide. When Marty accuses Gaines of being paid off, the lieutenant shows him film of Gloria and Peggy Summers having sex with a man. Marty leaves in tears, goes to Peggy and beats her until she reveals Leo's last name. When he leaves, Peggy calls Belgrave. Carrying a loaded gun, Marty confronts Sellers at his house. Sellers ask why kill him, as there "were a lot of men who led Gloria astray?" Marty replies that he cannot kill everyone and shoots him between the eyes. Gaines and Belgrave arrive to find Leo dead and Marty slumped in a chair. Gaines tries to get Marty to understand the trouble he is, but Marty just repeats that he will have his day in court. After learning Marty bought the gun from a pawnshop without giving his name, Gaines takes the pistol and shoots Marty in the shoulder, then concocts a story that Sellers pulled the gun when Marty confronted him and, in the ensuing struggle, Marty was wounded and Leo killed. Belgrave protests, but Gaines explains that even though Leo did not kill Gloria, he was a murderer and there are times justice is served by "sticking up for the Marty's of the world." Gaines telephones Nicole and tells her to meet him at the airport so they can fly to Sausalito, California, and get married. After hanging up, Gaines walks into a liquor store, where an armed man attempts to rob the place. Gaines intercedes, but he is shot dead. Later, Belgrave finds Nicole at the airport and breaks the news. As they leave, an airplane headed for Rome takes off.

In 1840s Missouri, young Huckleberry Finn, wanting to escape his violent drunkard father, joins Black runaway slave Jim on a quest for freedom down the Mississippi River on a raft. Huckleberry Finn, a rambuctious boy adventurer chafing under the bonds of civilization, escapes his humdrum world and his selfish, plotting father by sailing a raft down the Mississippi River. Accompanying him is Jim, a slave running away from being sold. Together the two strike a bond of friendship that takes them through harrowing events and thrilling adventures. —Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net> In Hannibal, Missouri in the mid nineteenth century, young Huckleberry Finn and his guardians' slave, Jim, run away independently of each other but for the same reason. Huck's no good father is holding Huck for ransom, the only way Huck's guardians can come up with the money is to sell Jim to the slave traders. After leaving, Jim runs into Huck and they decide to travel together down the Mississippi River on a raft to the free state of Illinois where Jim can live free. They learn that the news around Hannibal is that Jim murdered Huck, so the two have no choice but to escape. On their travels, they run into one adventure after another, including run-ins with wealthy Colonel Grangeford and his unusual family, slave traders, and con men known as the King and Duke. But before they get to their final destination, Huck changes their collective plans for what he feels is the best for both. —Huggo

A man who returns to his hometown for a funeral may have a much larger purpose in life than those around him can see. John Kane (Sidney Poitier) always seems to know when there will be a death in his family, despite not being in touch with them, and returns to his hometown. He has come home again, to be at his sister's deathbed and funeral. There is a strike in the town, and the police think he is a labor agitator. His well-used passport and unusual book collection only fuel their suspicions. But the town's doctor has always noticed that John is different, and thinks he has a larger purpose in life.